The Swiftie and The Scholar

Merry Christmas! Sorry for the sad song choice, but it just felt right. We’re trudging down the road not taken with evermore’s ‘tis the damn season. Uncle Jerry isn’t so sure about this one at first, but he comes around by the end. Works Cited:TropeSweet Home Alabama (2002)The Family Man (2000)Frank CapraAutofictionCatcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – Aff LinkThe Road Not Taken – Robert FrostIntertextualityFire and Ice – Robert FrostMending Wall – Robert FrostLook Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe – Aff LinkYou Can’t Go Home Again – Thomas Wolfe – Aff LinkTis The Damn Season – Lyric VideoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

This is one of our most requested episodes, and here it is, just in time for the holidays! Uncle Jerry picked up on something that Angela had never noticed in the poem, and they get into a bit of the Tay-lore about what inspired The Tortured Poets Department. Works Cited:e.e. cummingsThe Fates of Greek MythologyJust Kids – Patti Smith – Aff LinkBreaking Up Is Hard to Do – Neil SedakaWater Lilies – Claude MonetT.S. EliotMisery (1990)SynecdocheEpistropheFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

After all the talk about Romanticism in the last episode, we’re taking it to the New Romantics this week. Uncle Jerry teaches us all about the sociocultural movement of the late 1970s and 1980s called New Romanticism, featuring The Blitz Kids, the London club scene, and all the fun and freedom of the era.Works Cited:Neoclassicism vs. RomanticismDavid BowieBoy GeorgeAnnie LennoxThe Blitz KidsSweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics – Dylan Jones – Aff LinkSpandau BalletSteve StrangeBest of New Romantics – Spotify PlaylistRoad to Ruin – The RamonesHeartbreak Is the National Anthem – Rob Sheffield – Aff LinkAdam AntTaylor Swift’s Manuscripts – Natali BarbaniFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We are letting Taylor Swift take us to the lakes today! These are the lyrics Angela used to convince Uncle Jerry to do this podcast, and his analysis does not disappoint. Come with us to learn all about Romanticism, The Lakes Poets, and how Taylor expertly weaves those two into this poem.Works Cited:A Brief Guide to RomanticismThe Lake PoetsLyrical Ballads – William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Aff LinkSense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – Aff LinkRomanticism vs. NeoclassicismThe Last of the Mohicans – 1992William WordsworthSamuel Taylor ColeridgeDorothy WordsworthDove CottageRobert SoutheyThomas De QuincyJohn KeatsPercy Bysshe ShelleyTales from Shakespeare – Charles Lamb and Mary LambJohn RuskinHarriet MartineauThe Lake Isle of Innisfree – William Butler YeatsSonnets from the Portuguese 20: Beloved, my Beloved, when I think – Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Full Book Aff LinkThe Passionate Shepherd to His Love – Christopher MarloweHartley Coleridge Poetic InversionAurora Leigh – Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFrankenstein – Mary Shelley – Aff LinkI Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – William WordsworthFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We are finally covering a song from Speak Now! I’m so sorry to all the Speak Now stans that it took this long, but we got here. Uncle Jerry takes us through Taylor’s word choice throughout Enchanted, and how it reveals the specific fairy tale inspiration behind the song. Angela explains the lore of this being Taylor’s only completely self-written album and the moment that inspired the song. Works Cited:Trochee / Trochaic MeterSmiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed TruthWe Wear the Mask – Paul Laurence DunbarCaesuraMending Wall – Robert FrostIndirect DiscourseMetonymySome Enchanted Evening – South PacificFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠